What If…? season 3 has officially arrived and starts with a bang. In a Godzilla, Power Rangers, and Pacific Rim-inspired episode, this particular Marvel universe has fallen into a conflict called the “Gamma Wars.” Yes, Bruce Banner and the Hulk are at the center of it all, but he’s not alone.
What If…? season 3 has officially arrived and starts with a bang. In a Godzilla, Power Rangers, and Pacific Rim-inspired episode, this particular Marvel universe has fallen into a conflict called the “Gamma Wars.” Yes, Bruce Banner and the Hulk are at the center of it all, but he’s not alone.
Have you started watching your Christmas movies? For many, those cheesy, predictable, and loveable movies are the only way to get through the holidays.
So, if you need a bit of comfort, check out these funny, adorable, and relatable films.
Christmas with a Kiss
A romance movie starring Jaime M. Callica, Mishael Morgan, and Ronnie Rowe Jr. Christmas with a Kiss is a classic holiday love story.
When Morgan’s character Mona goes back home to help her family with a Christmas Carnival, she sparks a connection with a photojournalist, played by Rowe Jr. This movie is all about second chances and the magic of the holiday season.
Where to watch: Netflix
The Holiday Calendar
If you’re familiar with Advent calendars, you know that it is a decorative piece of card with a small compartment or window for each of the days of the month before Christmas. Each day, you open the window to reveal a picture or a small gift.
While most Advent calendars contain small trinkets, Abby Sutton was gifted a magical one. Each day she opens the calendar, it predicts her future.
Better than a crystal ball, this calendar can help Sutton change her life for the better, and it may even bring her one step closer to love.
Fans of The Holiday Calendar wrote on Google review that it’s a hopeful movie that makes you believe anything is possible, especially during the holidays. It’s a movie about allowing what’s meant to be will be.
The movie stars Kat Graham, Quincy Brown, Ethan Peck, and Ron Cephas Jones and is a must-watch for any holiday movie lover.
Where to watch: Netflix
The Day Before Christmas
While many Christmas movies capture the magic and the romance of the holiday season, some movies accurately showcase the chaos that can happen at the end of the year.
The Day Before Christmas follows two families whose holidays have been turned upside down. Following single parents Rashad and Nia, the movie shows how everything goes wrong on Christmas Eve. From cars breaking down, ruined events, ex-girlfriends, and switching cell phones, nothing seems right for these two.
Yet somehow, this unlikely duo manages to work together and try to salvage their Christmas. Starring Candace Maxwell, Tristan Mack Wilds, and Ace Tucker, this is a great movie if you need a break from the chaos in your life. Take a break from reality and watch something relatable and heartwarming.
Where to watch: BET+
Merry Liddle Christmas
I personally enjoy it when singers switch lanes and try out acting. If you’re a fan of these career moves, you’ll enjoy Kelly Rowland in Merry Liddle Christmas. Rowland plays Jacquie, a successful tech entrepreneur who has worked hard to keep her career and family separate. Despite trying to keep everything together, Jacquie’s holiday becomes filled with family drama and an unexpected romance.
A funny and wholesome family comedy, this movie will give you a good laugh and make you appreciate your family. Plus, the soundtrack includes a few songs by Rowland, so at the very least, you’ll have some new holiday songs to sing along to.
Where to watch: Prime
Our Christmas Journey
Being a single mom of two children, Lena, played by Holly Robinson Peete, struggles with balancing motherhood and her other passions, such as music. Also, Lena’s son Marcus is autistic, and she struggles with giving him the space he needs to grow while being protective of him.
When Lena and her children meet up with her ex-husband for the holidays, the Christmas festivities spark romance not only with Lena but also with her daughter Mia, who also finds a romantic interest.
Our Christmas Journeyis an authentic family story mixed with holiday romance starring Lyriq Bent and Nik Sanchez.
Where to watch: Prime
Christmas Belles
Christmas Belles is about two single and successful best friends who are feeling the social pressure of finding a man. So when a handsome and single pastor moves into town at the beginning of the holiday season, the two girls compete for his affection.
Will one man ruin a friendship, or will friendship conquer all? Starring Raven Goodwin, Dominque Perry, and Omar Gooding.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, BET+
Meet Me Next Christmas
A romance movie that leaves you on the edge of your seat and pulls on your heartstrings is Meet Me Next Christmas. Staring the holiday superstar herself, Christina Milian, this rom-com is about finding love, losing love, and trusting that fate will bring you back together.
While most Christmas love stories are predictable, this movie will have you enjoying the ride even though you know the destination. Alongside Milian, you’ll enjoy watching Devale Ellis and Kofi Siriboe.
Where to watch: Netflix
Christmas movies with Black leads remind us that all types of characters, regardless of ethnicity, deserve a cheesy, heartfelt holiday happy ending. Which movie will you curl up on the couch and watch?
Whether you’re a traveler or know someone who loves to travel, here are some simple, thoughtful, and affordable gifts that won’t leave you overdrawn.
1. Noise Canceling Headphones
Hands down, one of the most handy travel gifts is noise-canceling headphones. Crying baby on the airplane? That’s no problem; these headphones will drown out the whining and amp up the music. Too much chatter on a busy train in London? Background noise doesn’t exist with the right set of headphones.
When shopping for your ideal device, look for foldable, lightweight, and high-quality sound features.
Have you ever reached a destination with only 10% of your cellphone battery and discovered that your phone charger doesn’t fit any outlets? Every traveler has had that moment of panic when they need to charge their phone but don’t have the means to do so.
On one trip, I ended up sharing an outlet with an ATM, to charge my phone. Don’t end up in a similar situation; consider purchasing a solar-powered charger.
Great for charging phones, tablets, and other devices, such as wireless headphones, this device requires only some daylight to get up and running. It makes an excellent gift for yourself or your eco-conscious travel friend.
Look for lightweight chargers with high charging capacity and the ability to charge various devices, such as USB C or Apple devices. I suggest the LATIMERIA Solar Charger Power Bank.
3. Bug bite zapper
Now, this isn’t the most glamorous gift, but if someone put this in my stocking, I’d be eternally grateful. When I’ve traveled to tropical places, I’ve slathered myself in every cream, spray, and oil possible to repel bugs, but I constantly get bitten.
While I may not be able to prevent bugs from biting me, I can control how long their annoying and itchy bites stay with me. A portable bug bite zapper uses sound or vibrations to reduce swelling and neutralize the itch.
No more messy creams; this handy device will fix your bug bite problems.
While many people have positively reviewed these products, everyone’s reactions differ. Whether gifting this to a friend who’s a mosquito magnet or keeping it for yourself, remember to use it cautiously and stop using the product if any irritation occurs.
If you’re shopping for a friend who’s a traveler, chances are they already have a neck pillow. However, theirs is probably a run-of-the-mill and not super comfortable. If this is the case, you can be that good friend who buys them a quality yet affordable neck pillow that is comfortable and durable.
When shopping for the neck pillow that will wow and ahh, make sure you find one that can easily be attached to luggage or packed in a suitcase or carry-on. Pay attention to the material that is made of. Aim for soft yet firm material such as memory foam. Lastly, notice the shape and whether it supports the neck from the back and sides.
What’s something that every traveler crosses their fingers and hopes doesn’t happen. The dreaded losing of the luggage. It’s such a gut-wrenching feeling knowing that your poor suitcase is lost somewhere on a random airport runway, taken by mistakes, and locked up in some storage closet.
To help you solve the mystery of what happened to your missing luggage, you can use Airtags. These nifty devices can be attached to your luggage and use Bluetooth technology to locate your bag through an application on your phone.
Airtags are a handy device that every traveler will appreciate. If you’re an Apple user, the tech company has its signature Apple Airtags, but you can also find other brands on Amazon.
6. Travel Journal
Not every memory can be captured on camera. When I think back to my travel experiences, some of the most memorable moments were the conversations I had with new people, the surprising flavors I tasted, and those nights I spent dancing in the streets and fully living in the moment.
Even though a picture or video can capture the colors and lights of a space, words can capture the emotions of a given moment in time. That’s why a travel journal is a perfect gift for the adventurer who believes that not every moment needs to be posted online.
There are a wide variety of travel journals to choose from. Some have blank pages to sketch the scenery, while others have prompts to help you record your favorite moments or plan your itinerary. This travel journal by Duncan & Stone Paper Co. can make a great gift.
7. Experiences
While tangible gifts are lovely, many travelers explore the world for the experiences they can have, not the things they can collect. Therefore, a great gift can be an experience such as tickets to a local wine tasting, food tours, museum entry passes, and local tours.
Gifting an experience is a unique and memorable gift. Make sure you choose an experience that matches the personality of your giftee. Check out Gifting Owl to find experiences in your area and price range.
Hopefully, this list will help you complete your Christmas shopping. You can also revisit this list throughout the year when you’re looking for a quality and affordable gift for other occasions
Same-sex marriage in the world’s largest independent Black Protestant denomination has been banned despite three years of research conducted by the Sexual Ethics Discernment Committee as a resolution to help the church move forward.
The decision left Rev. Jennifer S. Leath, who identifies as “quare”—defined to describe her same-sex attraction and intellectual heritage as a “blackqueer womanist” thinker—feeling “disappointed and frustrated” but not enough for her to leave her denomination.
Instead, she pushes the narrative that the church’s stance heightens the reasoning behind the alienation of LBGTQ+ members of the church. “LGBTQ+ people in the church suffer in relative silence while those who have left are forced to find or even create new spiritual communities,” Leath said.
Participation in same-sex marriages or unions was deemed punishable by official AME church law in 2004 as a response to Rev. V. Gene Robinson being elected as its first openly gay bishop in 2003. Since then, same-sex marriage has become equal in the eyes of the law, pushing Leath to stand her ground for the youth coming up.
Within the church, research shows a number of older clergy, lay leaders, and academics consider LGBTQ+ sexual relations sinful and believe that God ordained marriage to be between a man and a woman. As society proves the younger generations accept sexual diversity more, Leath feels the church should accept and celebrate that all are created in the image of God and most importantly feel safe within the house of God.
“I feel the undeniable urgency of the children who are feeling like the only way through this is death or out of the church,” Leath said. “As a pastor who follows the way of Jesus, that weighs on me.”
During AME Church’s 52nd Quadrennial Session of the General Conference in August 2024 in Ohio, delegates voted 896 to 722 in favor of deleting an amendment that would allow same-sex marriage, according to Christian Post. In a statement, bishops questioned if a committee would make changes to church teaching on LGBTQ+ issues.
“Rational arguments on the matter of sexuality, sexual orientation, same sex marriage, the structure of the family, and the meaning of male and female will not resolve the controversy because the issues have deep theological and psychological roots,” the bishops wrote.
Decisions handed down by outside denominations have given Leath hope that things may turn around her AME.
“To me the AME church is a place where diverse perspectives on issues like these can co-exist while we faithfully pursue justice for all,” she said. “But this is only viable and sustainable as long as we are collectively and individually committed to recognizing the least among us, and recalibrating our faith and practices accordingly.”
In early 2024, the United Methodist Church (UMC) made headlines after an overwhelming vote resulted in the removal of a longstanding ban of clergy performing same-sex wedding ceremonies after close to 7,500, mostly conservative congregations, left the church. More churches within the denomination led efforts of disaffiliation since the change was made.